Here's part two of my attempt to compile a comprehensive list of sightseeingworthy places within 10 miles of the Greater London boundary. That's actual attractions or places of interest, not nice pubs or great walks because there are hundreds of those. Yesterday I covered south of the Thames, and today I'm working clockwise around the north. If I miss out anything good let me know and I'll try to add it, the idea being that this builds into a useful resource for anyone to refer back to. And if you're ever bored in the future and in need of inspiration, simply click back to April 2019 on this blog and hopefully something from the list will take your fancy.
SURREY(Spelthorne)
• Sunbury: The Sunbury Millennium Embroidery is displayed in the Sunbury Embroidery gallery(free, 10-4pm, closed Mondays) within the 18th century Sunbury Walled Garden [blogged].
• Staines:Spelthorne Museum(free, 9.30-5.30pm, closed Sunday) can be found downstairs within Staines Library [blogged].
BERKS
• Slough: Since 2016 Slough Museum(free, 9-5pm, closed weekends) has been located in The Curve, Slough's 'Cultural Hub', and is based around eight themed exhibition ‘pods’. John Betjeman gets a mention.
• Eton: You won't get round the college, but you can visit the stuffed exhibits in Eton College Natural History Museum(free, 2.30-5pm, Sun). Over in Eton Wick, the History On Wheels Museum(£7, 10-5pm, last Sunday of the month) majors on motors, militaria & memories.
• Burnham: The fabulous grounds of Cliveden(£16, 10-5.30pm, NT), the Astors' Italianate mansion overlooking the Thames, are open daily. The chapel and a small part of the house only open for two hours on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays [blogged]. Burnham Beeches provides a cheaper landscape treat [blogged]. The Chancellor's refuge at Dorneywood(2-4pm, must be pre-booked, NT) opens its gardens on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons (and the house for a fortnight in July).
• Beaconsfield: Britain's finest model village, Bekonscot(£10.90, 10-5.30pm) features an extensive labyrinth of tiny worlds and mini railways [blogged]. Full size farm animals and tractor rides can be enjoyed at Odds Farm Park(£14, 10-5.30pm) in Wooburn Common.
• The Chalfonts:Milton's Cottage(£7, 2-5pm, closed Mon, Tue) is the only surviving home of poet and parliamentarian John Milton [blogged]. The Chiltern Open Air Museum contains over 30 reconstructed historic buildings from an Iron Age roundhouse to a 1940s prefab (£9.50, 10-5pm)[blogged]. Chenies Manor(£9, 2-5pm, Wed, Thu) is a chimneyed Tudor manor house in a fine garden [blogged]
• Amersham: A revamped Amersham Museum(£3, 12-4.30pm, closed Mon, Tue) opened in Old Amersham in 2017.
• Berkhamsted: Don't expect too much if you head to what's left of Berkhamsted Castle(free, 10-6pm).
• Apsley: The Frogmore Paper Trail(£8, Thursdays and the first Sunday of the month), on the Grand Union near Hemel Hempstead, provides engrossing tours of the world's first mechanical paper mill [blogged].
• Rickmansworth:Three Rivers Museum(free, 2-4pm weekdays, 10-4pm Saturday) is the home of heritage in SW Herts. [blogged]. They also organise visits to Croxley Great Barn on the last Saturday morning of the month (Apr-Oct).
• Watford:Watford Museum(free, 10-5pm, Thu-Sat) is housed in the former Benskins Brewery, whereas Bushey Museum and Art Gallery(free, 11-4pm, closed Mon-Wed) is bespoke [blogged]. The world skips those and goes to Hogwarts instead at the Warner Bros Studio Tour London(£45, 8.30am-10pm, pre-book), by far the most expensive attraction on my list.
• Welwyn/Hatfield: The main attraction is the Tudor palace of Hatfield House(£19, 11-5pm, closed Mon, Tue). Alternatively step out of town to enjoy the watermill at Mill Green Mill(£3.50, 10-5pm, closed Sunday mornings, Mon, Fri and Sat)[blogged]. Discovered beneath the A1, now buried under Junction 6, are Welwyn Roman Baths(£3.50, 2-5pm, weekends only)[blogged].
• Hertford/Ware: The county town's treasure trove is Hertford Museum(free, 10-5pm, closed Sun, Mon). One of the weirder places described in Ware Museum(free, 11-4pm, Tue, Wed, Sat, plus Sunday afternoons) is Scott's Grotto(£1, 2-4.30pm, Saturdays), a series of subterranean chambers constructed over a 30 year period inside a chalk hillside.
• Broxbourne:Paradise Wildlife Park(£21.50, 9.30-6pm) has lions, tigers, leopards, zebras, armadillos, lemurs, guinea pigs and fibreglass dinosaurs in its menagerie. Up in Hoddesdon, Lowewood Museum(free, 10-4pm, closed Sun-Tue) has a stuffed tiger [blogged]. Tudor Rye House Gatehouse will hopefully reopen for the summer soon.
• Harlow: Alas they've cut back the hours at Harlow Museum(free, 9.30-3.30pm, Tue & Thu only)[blogged]. To enjoy the town's chief architect's home and modern sculpture collection, head to The Gibberd Garden(£5, 2-6pm, Wed, Sat, Sun).
• Waltham Abbey: As well as the 'abbey' itself, the town is home to Epping Forest District Museum(free, 10-4pm, closed Thu, Sun) and the Lee Valley White Water Centre(8am-8pm) which was opened for the 2012 Olympic canoeing [blogged]. The Royal Gunpowder Mills(£10.50, 10-5pm, check dates) cover a fascinating site, often with explosively special event weekends thrown in [blogged]. Littl'uns will enjoy the animals and activities at Lee Valley Park Farms(£10, 10-5pm). Out towards Epping is Copped Hall(£8, arrive at 10am on the third Sunday of the month), a historic county house under restoration [blogged].
• North Weald: Make tracks to the Epping Ongar Railway(£14, mostly weekends) which runs heritage services along the former Central line to Ongar [blogged]. Or to North Weald Airfield Museum(£2, 12-5pm, weekends) if airborne military operations are your thing. On the way to Ongar is Greensted Church, which is nothing less than the oldest wooden church on the planet [blogged].
• Brentwood:Brentwood Museum(free) doesn't make it easy to visit (10.30am-12.30pm on the first Saturday of the month and on the subsequent Sunday, then 2.30-4.30pm on the subsequent Monday, Apr-Oct). Ingatestone Hall(£7, 12-5pm, Wed, Sun) offers tours of a Tudor family home, plus gardens, further up the A12. St Mary The Virgin in Great Warley (2-3.30pm, Thu) boasts a remarkable Arts & Crafts/Art Nouveau interior. And don't tell anyone, but the Secret Nuclear Bunker(£7.50, 10-5pm) at Kelvedon Hatch is one of the weirdest tourist attractions you will ever enter [blogged].
If you have any further thoughts on places you'd go out of your way to visit, please add them in the specific comments box above and I'll add your best choices later.
